New Smyrna leaders approve CRA blight study

Tuesday

Nov 13, 2012 at 9:14 PM

City officials want to establish a new CRA in 2015 that would run along U.S 1 from the Municipal Airport to the Edgewater city limits.

RICHARD CONNSTAFF WRITER

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — The City Commission approved a contract Tuesday night with a firm that will perform a study of blighted conditions on U.S. 1, a precursor to what officials hope is the creation of a new Community Redevelopment Agency district. The contract unanimously approved by commissioners will pay Kimley-Horn and Associates $35,000 for the blight study, which is required of cities that hope to form CRAs. City officials want to establish a new CRA in 2015 that would run along U.S 1 from the Municipal Airport to the Edgewater city limits. The blight study would be completed by next spring and submitted to the Volusia County Council, which ultimately has the say over whether cities can form new redevelopment districts. "There is no guarantee," City Manager Pam Brangaccio said. "We do not know what the county's future policies will be toward CRAs." Brangaccio said a new CRA would be different than the city's current redevelopment district because the county would cap the dollars it contributes as well as limit the number of years future CRAs could be in existence. The city's current CRA was created in 1985 and runs through an established boundary that includes the Canal Street, Flagler Avenue and Third Avenue business districts as well as a portion of the Historic Westside. The CRA will sunset on May 9, 2015. According to the contract, the city would also pay Kimley-Horn and Associates $77,800 to develop the city's new CRA master plan, but Brangaccio said that payment would not move forward without another authorization from the City Commission. Edgewater and Orange City both have applications for new CRA districts that are under review by the county, Brangaccio said. Kimley-Horn and Associates performed a blight study for Edgewater. Before the vote on the contract, Mayor Adam Barringer said he didn't want to see the blight study "sit on a shelf somewhere" if the city doesn't get approval for a new CRA and asked what else the city would get out of the analysis. Brangaccio said the study could be used to recommend zoning and land use changes, and identify other needed upgrades and long-term capital improvement projects. "It basically takes a snapshot of the area being proposed for the new CRA," she said of the study. Before the commission's regular meeting, Barringer was sworn in a for a second term, while new Zone 3 Commissioner Jason McGuirk and new Zone 4 Commissioner Kirk Jones were each sworn in to four-year terms. McGuirk, who operates the Dairy Queen on Dixie Freeway and is a former Planning and Zoning Board chairman, thanked the department heads and other officials for helping prepare him for his new role. "I'm happy and I'm very excited to get started," he said. Jones, a retired New Smyrna Beach firefighter, said he was glad to be able to continue his public service. "I've been so blessed to be able to serve the community in the aspects of being a firefighter and also parks and recreation for almost 40 years, and to be able to be in this position is a great honor," he said.